


Returning the Favor

by valkyriepilot



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Getting Together, Ignores Season 8, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Love Confessions, M/M, Mind Control, Not Epilogue Compliant, Post-Season/Series 07, Rescue Missions, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-09-28 09:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17180450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyriepilot/pseuds/valkyriepilot
Summary: While the paladins and the ATLAS crew are travelling the universe offering aid to all the planets that have suffered during Galra occupation, the last thing any of them expect is for Keith to be captured.It's finally Shiro's turn to save Keith.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Season 8 is completely disregarded for this fic. The only things you need to know are that they defeated Honerva, Allura is 100% alive and always has been, and they still have Voltron.
> 
> Enjoy!

They’ve defeated Honerva but their work isn’t done. After a good rest period on Earth both to recuperate and to celebrate their victory, the ATLAS takes off once again to provide aid in relief efforts for the various planets still recovering from Galra occupation. This mostly involved clearing rubble and using Voltron to inspire the inhabitants of said planets.

But just because the war may be over that doesn’t mean the universe is completely at peace.

It’s more often than Shiro would like that they are attacked by rogue groups of former Galra soldiers or bands of space pirates while traveling between planets. He trusts the paladins’ skills enough that watching the Voltron lions fly out to confront any threat doesn’t worry him, and having the ATLAS to be able to back them up gives him even more peace of mind. The battles are more of an annoyance than anything after everything else they’ve been through.

That’s not to say it isn’t stressful. It’s been nearly four months of nonstop work and the entire Voltron team is just as busy as it’s always been. Shiro does his best to make time for himself and the paladins to just relax and hang out as friends, but weekly Monsters & Mana sessions only do so much for all of them. Lance has come to him whining about not having time for a date with Allura several times in the last week alone and Shiro can’t blame him for it. Shiro wants nothing more than to be able to bring Keith out somewhere peaceful and be able to ask him out properly.

It’s obvious to everyone that they have feelings for each other. Pidge smirks at him whenever he and Keith lean against each other during Monsters & Mana sessions. Allura can’t hold back her giggles when Shiro gets distracted staring at Keith during particularly boring meetings. Hunk knows to bring two dinners to his office on the ATLAS when he’s working late on paperwork because Keith is always there too. Lance shoots him a thumbs-up when he and Keith embrace before separating to their different relief assignments planetside.

Shiro knows it’s his fault they aren’t already in a relationship. He has a habit of putting work first over his relationships even though he’s not nearly as bad about it as he used to be. Luckily enough for him Keith shares his passion for their mission but he can’t help but feel guilty about the days they barely see each other. On top of that, Shiro knows Keith deserves better than being hastily asked out just before heading out on a mission. He wants to do things right.

It’s not hard to make the decision to schedule two weeks of shore leave for the entirety of the ATLAS. They have one more planet to assist, and then they’ll be heading back to Earth. When he makes the announcement to everyone during their usual weekly meeting, everyone is overjoyed. Shiro meets Keith’s eyes across the table, and the soft smile the man is wearing makes his heart melt. Shiro’s already sent a message ahead to Earth to reserve a table at a nice restaurant near the Garrison, but he’s keeping that as a surprise.

The last planet they’re to assist is small and firmly located within a region that had been working with the Voltron coalition since the beginning. It’s not nearly as torn apart as some of the places they had visited in the past few months, but they had unfortunately been the victim of some splinter cell of Galra still loyal to Zarkon after all these years.

“Hunk, Pidge, you’re going to head out to the western coast and help with getting their power supply up and running again,” Shiro instructs as they stand just outside the ATLAS. “Allura and Lance, to the north a lot of their market district was destroyed and they need rubble cleared.”

“You got it,” Lance responds cheerfully, quickly snagging Allura’s hand as he turns to head back to the hangar. “You hear that? Just you and me, Allura!”

“And the rest of the ATLAS team assigned to the area,” Allura reminds him, but that doesn’t stop her from interlacing her fingers with Lance’s as they walk away.

“What about me?” Keith’s voice sounds from over Shiro’s shoulder. He turns to face him with a smile.

“Not the most exciting assignment, but you’ll be distributing rations with me.” With the thought of being able to spend time together on Earth soon at the forefront of his mind, Shiro may have been a little biased when planning the day’s work assignments. It’s unlikely for either of them to get distracted by each other while working, but Shiro still appreciates having Keith nearby. And judging by the look on Keith’s face, he feels the same way.

“Whatever you say, Shiro.”

They get situated with several crates of food and water packets to pass out along with many others from the ATLAS crew doing the same thing. Quickly lines form in front of each of them, and they pass out supplies to each of the locals that steps up for their share. Shiro gives out the food packet, and then they step over to Keith for water.

Barely an hour has passed before something unusual happens. A small alien steps up in front of Shiro, much smaller than the others of their species that have stepped up before and he’d have to assume that they are a child. When Shiro goes to pass them their packet of food the alien puts up all four of their hands as if rejecting it. That’s never happened before on any planet they’ve been to.

“Is something wrong?” Shiro asks. The small alien fidgets slightly as if they’re nervous.

“...you’re one of the Voltron paladins, aren’t you?” Their voice is a high pitched squeak.

“Well, I used to be-”

“He is. So am I.” Keith interjects, stepping closer. “Why?”

The alien fidgets again. “...my parents always said Voltron can help with anything. They died when our home was smashed by the Galra.”

“I’m so sorry,” Shiro says softly, patting the child’s head gently.

“I don’t have anything to remember them by because everything is stuck under the rubble and I can’t get to it. But if the people working clean everything up, they’ll just throw everything away.” The alien looks up with big teary eyes. “Would you help me get some of our stuff back?”

Shiro hesitates, looking at the long line of civilians waiting for their rations behind the child. They have work to do and it would be easy enough to send the child to one of the other ATLAS workers all over the city. He especially shouldn’t be leaving given that he’s in charge of everything going on. But the heartbroken expression the alien is wearing makes it so hard to send them off.

Shiro is saved from a decision when Keith kneels down to match height with the child. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” He glances over his shoulder back at Shiro. “Will you be alright handling the line on your own for a while? It shouldn’t take too long.”

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to Shiro that Keith would feel so much empathy for a child that lost their parents, but seeing Keith so quickly offer aid to a child in need just makes Shiro respect him even more. “Of course. Just be careful, okay?”

Keith nods and stands back up. They both immediately lean in for a firm hug, their usual ritual before splitting up, and Keith offers Shiro a brief smile before departing with the young alien, allowing them to hold his hand as they led him away into the city ruins around them.

Shiro is able to handle passing out rations perfectly well on his own. He definitely preferred doing it with Keith beside him, but he’s in no way incapable of doing things on his own. Two hours pass and he isn’t worried at all. He doesn’t know how far away the child’s home was, and for all he knows it’ll take Keith a while to dig out any items from a destroyed building. If anything goes wrong he can always contact Shiro or any of the paladins via the comm channel in his helmet.

* * *

 

By the time four hours pass, another ATLAS worker comes to relieve Shiro so he can break for lunch. As he sits to the side eating a meal bar, Shiro stares out in the direction that Keith left hoping to see him return. It seems odd that Keith hasn’t at least contacted him to warn him about a late return. He knows this planet is safe, the Galra force that had caused all the local damage had been cleared out by the Blade of Marmora before they arrived. But he can’t stop the nagging feeling that something is wrong.

He has five doboshes before he needs to get back to handing out supplies, but no one is going to criticize the captain of the ATLAS for being a tad late. If Keith finds him overprotective for calling to check in on him then so be it, he’d rather quell his fears than let something happen to Keith due to his own negligence.

He opens up their private comm channel. “Keith? How’s everything going over there?” Shiro waits several ticks for Keith to respond and then tries again. “Are you there, Keith? What’s happening?”

The silence is unnerving. Shiro takes a deep breath to calm himself. “Keith. If you can hear me, send me your coordinates.”

He receives no response. He quickly switches to the full group comm channel. He wastes no time on greetings. “Has anyone heard from Keith in the last several hours?”

“Wasn’t he with you today?” Pidge’s voice near instantly responds.

“He was, but one of the locals asked him to help with something and I haven’t heard from him since. He’s not responding when I call him.” Shiro’s trying very hard to keep his voice calm.

“Keith not responding to _you_? That’s too weird,” Lance chimes in. “Something’s definitely up.”

“I agree,” Allura says, concern evident in her voice. “Have Coran see if he can track him from the ATLAS.”

They have the ability to track any of the paladins via their armor from the main ATLAS console. Coran is manning the bridge of the ATLAS while everyone is out performing their own duties, and he’s more than happy to assist Shiro when he contacts him.

“Well it looks like he’s only about a mile south of your position,” Coran says, sounding oddly confused. “He’s not moving at all. I’ve sent you the coordinates. There’s a few of the ATLAS crew right nearby, I’ll tell them to go check in on him too.”

“Thank you,” Shiro says, immediately taking off in a run when he receives the coordinates. He’s filled with dread, fearing the worst. Damaged buildings were dangerous and Keith could have easily been caught under whatever collapsing structure there was left. He should have gone with him.

It takes him only a few minutes to reach the location that Coran had sent him. Two ATLAS crewmen salute him as he approaches. “Captain Shirogane, sir.”

“Where’s Keith?” he asks quickly, glancing around at the half standing building. The entirety of the left side is a mess of rubble, and the what remains of the right side doesn’t look at all structurally sound.

“We’ve been calling for him and have received no response. We checked the perimeter and were about to check what’s left of the inside,” one of the crewmen informs him quickly.

“I’ll do it.” Shiro pushes past them and approaches the building. His eyes are immediately drawn to a smashed in window. He peers inside but it’s pitch black. “Keith? Keith, are you here?”

He doesn’t expect a response, but the responding silence still makes him more uneasy. He pulls himself through the window, minding the shards of glass. The glow of his Altean arm lights the room partially, but he still turns on the brighter flashlight equipped to his suit.

The room is completely trashed. Furniture is splintered into large chunks thrown all around, and given the lack of settled dust it’s only recently become like this. Shiro takes in the scene around him carefully but what his eyes catch on makes his blood run cold.

Sticking out from behind what was once some sort of shelf is the boot of familiar paladin armor. Shiro forces his way forward, knocking the shelf back to get a clear view.

The mangled remains of Keith’s Paladin armor are strewn across the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading so far! This is my first multi-chapter fic and I'm really looking forward to sharing the rest.  
> I'd love to hear any feedback you have so don't be shy about leaving a comment!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a little longer than expected to finish this chapter, sorry! But I hope you'll all enjoy.

Shiro is frozen in place as he takes in the broken remains of Keith’s armor. The visor on the helmet is completely smashed in with what seems to be blood dripping from some of the shards. The breastplate is practically shattered from a single point of impact right at the center.

Keith wouldn’t have been able to take that hit without his ribs being broken.

In his mind he can hear the sound of Keith screaming in pain; a sound that he had never wanted to hear again. Shiro’s adrenaline finally kicks in. He whips around to face the two ATLAS crewmen that had followed him into the room. “Get Keith’s armor and get back to the ATLAS. Now!”

The two scramble forward to follow Shiro’s order and he scans the room again, hoping to gain any sliver of insight that could help him understand what had happened here. When he faces back towards the wall with the window, he sees something against the wall at just the right angle that no one would see it looking in. The black bayard, still in sword form. Keith hadn’t gone down without a fight.

Shiro opens up the comm channel to the ATLAS bridge.

“Coran, put everyone from the ATLAS on high alert and send out as many patrols as you can. Someone’s taken Keith.”

 

* * *

 

The ATLAS is in chaos as half the crew are fighting their way onto the ship to get to their stations while the other half are making their way outside to bulk up their defenses as they were instructed. Despite their professionalism there’s a sense of unease and confusion adding to the mess of people trying to get around. But absolutely no one dares to get in the way of the ATLAS captain as he storms onto the ship.

Shiro is a master at hiding his panic and fear- especially after years of needing to appear perfect, confident and self-assured despite his muscle condition in order to even be allowed to continue on in the Garrison. It’s entirely different when Keith’s well-being is thrown in the mix. His knuckles are white from clutching the black bayard tight in his left hand, his brows are furrowed and the way his jaw is clenched is painful. Rather than confidence, he’s masking his terror with abject fury.

Stepping onto the ATLAS’ bridge, most of his crew is already assembled. Coran takes one look at the expression on Shiro’s face and shrinks back with a yelp. Iverson steps up to him instead.

“We haven’t informed the crew exactly what happened yet to avoid panic,” he says. “But we’re compiling a list of any of the crew who were within a half-mile of Keith’s coordinates the last several hours. Veronica’s questioning all of them. If anyone saw anything, we’ll know.”

“Thank you,” Shiro manages to respond. “Has anyone checked if any ships have departed the planet recently?”

“Already on it!” Coran says, peaking out from behind Iverson. “No arrivals or departures since us last night. I have the MFEs on patrol to make sure no one tries leaving now!”

Shiro lets out a shaky breath. Having Keith be taken off planet is one of many worst case scenarios that his mind is unhelpfully providing. He pushes the thoughts away, he needs to be at the top of his game right now. For Keith’s sake.

The door to the bridge slides open again and the rest of the paladins come rushing in. The sight of his friends safe in front of him does at least ease a small amount of his stress.

“What’s happening? Coran told us Keith’s been kidnapped!” Hunk says, looking to Shiro as if he was hoping to be told it was a joke. Shiro doesn’t want to accept it himself, let alone confirm it. He gives a nod and Hunk looks horrified.

With as much detail as he can, Shiro explains the situation to the others. When he describes the state of Keith’s armor, they all look just as shaken as he felt.

“Keith can take a beating, I can’t imagine what could have taken him down,” Lance mumbles. He crosses his arms and continues frustratedly, “Isn’t this planet supposed to be friendly? We came here to help them- they _asked_ us to come. Why are they attacking us?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Allura concedes. She purses her lips thoughtfully, “Something is odd. Although I’m happy it isn’t worse, they seem to have suffered relatively little damage outside this city. It’s odd for them to call upon us for aid, especially when they weren’t even under Galra occupation.”

“Yeah, I have to say this is way too easy for what we’ve been doing recently,” Hunk says. “Me and Pidge got their power station back up and running in an hour. We were just doing random odd jobs after that.”

“I got the their message right when I was planning our trip home. They were nearby our position and I thought we could hit one more planet before taking a break. I ran through all the normal precautions before accepting their request.” Shiro grits his teeth. “It’s my fault we’re here.”

If this entire mission was a trap there’s no denying Shiro’s part in falling for it. He always puts work first; it’s always ‘ten more minutes in the training room’, ‘just finish up a few more reports’, or ‘just one more planet’. Shiro has tried to ignore all the times he’s been criticized for it, but if his dedication to his work has put Keith in danger, he’ll never forgive himself-

There’s a sharp tug on his arm and Shiro is startled out of his thoughts, finding Pidge frowning up at him. “Nope. We’re not letting you blame yourself for this.”

Shiro slumps a bit. “It’s hard not to. Keith’s been through enough because of me.”

Lance comes up and claps him on the shoulder. “Let’s just focus on getting Keith back and dealing with whoever planned this.”

“Exactly. You said you had Keith’s armor brought back, right? I think I’ll go check it out, see if I can find out anything useful. With luck our culprit will have left some DNA behind.” Pidge turns towards the door. Allura follows after her, intending to offer her assistance.

“We should get out there and do an aerial search,” Hunk suggests. “The sooner the better.”

Shiro makes to follow Lance and Hunk out the door but Iverson calls him back. “You can’t just leave now. You’re the captain of the ATLAS! The local leadership is going to have a fit if we don’t explain why we’ve put their planet on lock down and have soldiers rushing around instead of handing out supplies. You’ll need to speak with them.”

Shiro goes stiff and turns to face Iverson slowly. His voice is ice cold when he speaks. “You think I’m going to sit here debating with dignitaries while someone is doing god knows what to Keith? He saved my life, Iverson. He told me he’d save me as many times as it takes and I’m going to do the same for him.”

Iverson is lost for words but Shiro wasn’t going to give him the chance to respond, simply marching out the door. He pretends to ignore the grins on Hunk and Lance’s faces.

 

* * *

 

 

The Red Lion’s cockpit is much smaller than Black’s, but it’s still comfortable. Lance had insisted that Shiro should ride with him saying, “Red used to be Keith’s after all. And Red knows you want to save him just as much as he does.”

The scenery of the city passes quickly as they depart the ATLAS hangar, and it’s not too long before he’s gesturing down at Keith’s last known whereabouts.

“So the question is,” Hunk says, face popping up on the Red Lion’s display, “Where did they go from there?”

“They would have had to stay out of sight since they were carrying Keith. They definitely didn’t come back north or they would have been caught,” Shiro states, trying to keep his composure, “Even if he wasn’t unconscious, he was injured. There was blood on his helmet. Anybody from the ATLAS would have reported it if they saw him like that.”

Hunk grimaces. “Keep heading south it is then.”

The damaged buildings all around them give ample places for anyone to hide. It’s more like looking at a field full of haystacks, hoping to predict which one had a needle.

“I still don’t get how they managed to take down Keith without anyone noticing,” Lance says. “It takes balls to fight someone in a place swarmed with people ready to defend the target. But to do it absolutely silently? That’s next level.”

“Forgive me if I don’t admire the work of someone that hurt someone I care about,” Shiro deadpans. Lance glances at him out of the corner of his eye before going back to scanning the area.

“Keith’s gonna be okay, Shiro,” he says quietly. “He knows you’re coming to get him.”

He hates the fact that that statement is comforting to him. But it’s true. Keith's trust in him is unwavering and Shiro never doubts it, but he can’t help but wonder if it’s deserved. After Keith had rescued him so many times, he knows he owes Keith this. He’d go to the edge of the universe and back again to keep Keith safe and it’s time he proved it.

He sighs. “I’d feel better if there was just some way of tracking him down. They must have known the armor is tracked or they wouldn’t have gotten rid of it.”

“I’ve got it!” Hunk’s voice suddenly booming out of nowhere startles both of them. “We can’t trace him directly without the armor, but we have the next best thing! It’s not as good as a tracker but if we can get Pidge and Allura to scan the blood on Keith’s helmet, the Lions can use the data from it to scan the ground around us for traces of it!”

“Like in one of those terrible horror games where you follow the blood trail!” Lance agrees. “Great idea, Hunk!”

Shiro can’t bring himself to react as happily as the other pair to the suggestion of Keith leaving a morbid trail for them to pursue, but he also can’t help but be thankful for anything leading them in the right direction. He leans forward to tap a few buttons on Red’s console and opens up a line with them back in the lab.

As soon as the image of Pidge shows up on screen, Shiro starts talking. “Pidge, would you be able to take a sca-”

“Oh thank god, I was just about to contact you,” Pidge interjects, sounding panicked.

“Whoa, what’s wrong?” Lance asks.

Allura steps into view, wearing a dark expression. “We just finished checking over Keith’s armor. There were strange energy readings all over it and it took me a moment to realize what was causing it.”

“It’s almost the same sort of dark magic that Haggar- Honerva used to use but it’s noticeably different,” Pidge says.

“It’s a druid’s magic. It can’t be anyone else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I really appreciate feedback so don't be afraid to leave a comment!  
> I'm trying to match the tone of this work to something you'd see in an actual VLD episode, hopefully that shows!  
> And thanks so much for the amazing reception to chapter one, I'm incredibly grateful for it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year everyone! I literally spent the majority of my new years eve writing this.  
> I've added a couple new tags to the fic so be aware of it as a content warning!

He remembers when the druids took his arm. It was under Haggar’s orders: give the Champion a reward for his performance in the arena. He was strapped down to a table, screaming in agonizing pain. If he struggled or moved too much one of them would just shock him with their magic until he stilled. There wasn’t an ounce of sympathy for his suffering. Shiro remembers lying there, barely clinging to consciousness, as the metal prosthetic was attached in it’s place. There were fleeting thoughts of wanting them to just kill him instead, even though he knows he has to survive.

“Shiro?” A voice cuts through the memory, bringing him back to the present. Shiro’s vision swirls back into focus to find Lance standing beside him with a hand on his shoulder. Pidge, Allura and Hunk are watching on with concern from the Red Lion’s display screen.

“I’m… okay,” he says. He’s still reeling from the sudden flashback, the scene burns in his mind. Despite having an entire new prosthetic, his shoulder aches in phantom pain. He may have come to be able to live with the horrible things he’d been forced to endure, but it will still haunt him for as long as he lives.

And now Keith could be living through something similar.

Shiro’s heart is pounding and he finds it hard to breathe, but he straightens up and forces himself to speak, solidifying his determination. “We have to find Keith. Now.”

“We’re going to,” Lance confirms. “You don’t need to worry, Keith’s a tough guy. I mean, he’s taken down a druid before!”

Shiro frowns and looks away as he hears Hunk explain his idea to Pidge. Keith may have been able to defeat a druid before but that had been with the help of a teleporting space wolf, a full set of paladin armor, and both his bayard and his luxite blade. Even then it had been a tough fight.

It isn’t long before the scan data of Keith’s blood is uploading to the Lions for them to track. Just from knowing exactly what it’s locating, Shiro doesn’t feel any relief when Red immediately highlights the location of minuscule traces of it on it’s display.

“See where that trail leads. Allura and I are going to get our Lions and meet you as soon as we can,” Pidge says, and then the comm channel is switched off.

 

* * *

 

Frustrating is the only way Shiro can describe sitting behind Lance as he pilots Red. It feels like they’re going too slow, as if this wasn’t urgent. He wishes he could be flying his own ship right now, but it’s impossible. The ATLAS is an amazing ship and Shiro is incredibly proud to be it’s captain, but it can’t be quickly launched whenever he needs it and as vital as it is giving backup support to the paladins it isn’t the same as charging into the heat of battle with the rest of Voltron. He’ll never admit it to the others, especially not to Keith, but sometimes he misses being Black’s paladin.

Every few hundred feet a tiny pinprick becomes highlighted on Red’s display. They follow it far south, and the damage to the buildings lessens the further they travel. The old stone buildings are perfectly intact by the time they reach the farthest outskirts of the city where the buildings slowly thin out before the edge of a tall cliff overlooking a wide river.

“The Galra that attacked sure did their best to avoid this place, huh?” Hunk says, letting out a nervous laugh.

The trail stops short well before the drop off of the cliff, and they bring the Lions down to take a closer look. The streets are empty and eerily quiet as Shiro steps out of Red. It looks like no one had set foot in the district for months, despite the vastly more livable conditions compared to the ruins in the north. Something feels wrong, a terrible aura that they just can’t ignore.

“People don’t just up and leave their homes for no reason,” Lance mumbles, bayard at the ready. They proceed up the street, peeking in dusty windows and looking for any signs of a disturbance. The building at the end of the row definitely stands out.

Unlike the uniform multi-story old gray stone of the previous buildings, this one is a single level, fashioned from dark steel and has a reinforced door. The layer of built up dirt and dust on the front step has been recently disturbed. If anything screams ‘enemy base’ it’s this place, not even trying to be discreet.

Just as Shiro is reaching for the door handle, wind kicks up around them while the Blue and Green Lions touch down in the street. Shiro is more than thankful for their timely arrival; having the full team for infiltration gave them better chances at rescuing Keith swiftly and safely and he knows he wouldn’t have been able to wait too long before going in without them.

Pidge trots up beside Shiro, looking wide-eyed at the steel structure. “This place is new but… not _that_ new,” she says pensively. “There’s some wear in the metal so this must have been here for at least a few years already. But that doesn’t make sense if the Galra only attacked recently.”

“Even stranger,” Allura cuts in, “there’s a terrible energy radiating from this place. Can’t you feel it? I don’t think it’s the druid’s magic. It’s something stronger.”

She frowns and shivers like a chill went down her spine. Lance wraps an arm around her shoulders and gives her a brief squeeze. Seeing them like that makes Shiro long to be able to do the same for Keith. Putting his hand on his shoulder always steadies him and makes it easier to focus.

His Altean hand clenches on the door handle nearly bending the metal. He can’t wait any longer.

“Alright everyone. Be alert,” Shiro says, putting aside his worry and shifting into leader mode, “First priority is getting Keith to safety.” He waits until he hears murmurs of assent before wrenching the door open with an ominous creak.

It’s dark inside, the light shining through the doorway only illuminating the first several feet of the open layout. Layers of dirt and grime cover the unfurnished walls and floor with a clear path of many years worth of footprints going back and forth up the same line down the center of the room. It smells rancid.

They all turn on lights from their suits, making their way forward with Shiro at the front and Hunk leading up the back. The room slopes downward, transitioning to a more narrow tunnel that begins to curve in a spiral. The further they proceed, the more heavily the dark aura seems to weigh down on them. Something about it makes Shiro feel nauseous.

It feels like an eternity before the spiral down ends opening up into another wide room, finally with faint violet lights filtering from the ceiling. There are doors with small barred windows lining both sides and large double doors at the far end. Lance peers into one of the windows curiously and immediately leaps back with a yelp.

Everyone immediately gets into battle stance on instinct and Lance stammers trying to explain himself. Shiro moves forward to check and what’s inside makes him feel sick to his stomach.

Chained to the walls inside the dark room are more than a dozen of local alien species. They’re hanging limply by their bonds, drained of all vitality with their natural green coloring dulled down to a sickly looking gray. He simply can’t tell if they’re alive or dead.

Allura nudges him out of the way to take a look. Her brow furrows and she gives the door a solid kick denting the metal with ease, and another deft strike sends the door tumbling inward. Placing her palms lightly against the face of the nearest person, her Altean markings glow for a brief moment. As she pulls away she looks stricken.

“They’ve been drained of their quintessence. Almost entirely,” she says quietly. “Just like Lotor did to the Altean colony. They’re still alive but their chances of survival are low if they don’t have any quintessence returned to them soon.”

“Lotor chose the Alteans from the colony specifically because they had a lot of innate quintessence though, right? Are the people here like that?” Pidge asks.

“Not at all. In fact these people don’t seem sensitive to quintessence at all,” Allura confirms. There’s an open discomfort in her voice as she continues, “Draining all the people here wouldn’t even give a fraction of the amount of quintessence you could drain from the average Galra, let alone an Altean.”

The words shock Shiro into action, and he runs to the next cell over busting the door open with a single strike of his Altean arm. His eyes search frantically, desperate to see a familiar face but also terrified of it. When he only finds more of the local aliens he moves to the next door repeating the process.

They need to find out the motive of the druid for draining the quintessence of the seemingly innocent inhabitants of this planet, of course. That sort of cruelty can not and will not be tolerated. But right at this moment, Shiro doesn’t care.

No matter how much he values their mission or the Voltron coalition in general, nothing will ever matter more to him than Keith’s safety. The druid had clearly switched targets. Keith is in immediate life-threatening danger. He can’t lose him.

When Shiro attempts to move to the next cell, he’s beaten to the punch by Hunk who had already blasted the door down. “Doesn’t look like he’s here.”

“Nothing over here either!” Pidge says, and Shiro turns to find the other three paladins quickly checking the cells lining the other side of the room. The double doors at the far end of the room seem to beckon Shiro forward.

What awaits him is a cramped laboratory. The negative aura felt across the whole facility seems to radiate from the glowing stack of containers against the wall that were filled to the brim with what anyone would recognize as quintessence. They’re stacked floor to ceiling in specifically made slots, but there’s one slot noticeably empty. There’s another smaller door nearby, and then a set of shackles dangle from the wall opposite with a table sitting at the ready nearby that holds nasty looking implements. A lone syringe glowing with quintessence is among them.

Shiro actively has to fight down the memories of the horrors he experienced in a similar room. But even more he tries not to think of what happened to Keith here.

“We… aren’t too late, are we?” Lance says as he steps into the room behind him with the others. Shiro is about to retort when a muffled thud sounds from behind the small door. He doesn’t even think before rushing forward. It’s a small hallway that opens out into a massive hangar, but that’s the least important thing.

Directly ahead is a dark robed figure dragging someone behind it. It’s Keith. He’s pale but bruised, with dried blood covering part of the side of his face. Being gripped by the hair as he’s dragged backward towards a Galra ship with his hands tied behind his back, he’s struggling viciously and kicking his legs out at whatever he can reach. The druid doesn’t have any patience for that.

Crackling violet energy pulses from the druid’s grip in Keith’s hair, engulfing him as the man cries out in pain. Even from this distance Shiro can see the moment where Keith’s eyes flash Galra with the intensity of the pain. Keith slumps forward as the magic subsides. It’s then that they make eye contact.

“Keith!”

“...Shiro...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading so far! Please don't be shy about leaving a comment, I'd love to hear from you!  
> Feel free to come bug me on twitter @EphemeraBlossom or less frequently on tumblr @ValkyriePilot!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life got a little busy so this chapter went up a bit later than expected, sorry!
> 
> Starting this chapter off with a quick flashback to what happened to Keith. Enjoy!

Keith awakens with a groan. He’s dizzy and he tries to move one of his hands to hold his aching head, but finds he can’t move either. They’re restrained high above him with metal shackles too tight and cutting into his skin. His feet are just barely touching the ground, not enough to steady himself and stay balanced.

He glances around the dimly violet lit room around him, a laboratory, trying to piece together what had happened to him. When he spots the masked figure observing him from the corner of the room he jerks in his bonds and the memories come flooding back.

_A druid standing in the spot the young alien had been. A blast of energy knocking him through a window into the ruined house and shattering his armor. His bayard being knocked away as he tries to recover from the blow. Desperately trying to contact Shiro via their comm channel only to find all the lines are jammed with static. The druid holding him up by the helmet and crushing the visor in his palm, a shard of glass slicing his forehead. Intense pain as electric magic rips through him until everything goes black._

“You’re finally awake,” the dry voice of the druid sounds amused. He moves forward to stand inches from Keith’s face, the mask’s blank expression more than a little unnerving. Keith just glares back. The druid lets out a laugh. “Who knew it would be so easy to tempt the leader of Voltron away from his friends? All you have to do is look innocent and have a little extra quintessence.”

Keith’s brow furrows. “Extra quintessence?”

“Yes,” the druid says. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed. Your sensitivity to quintessence is something we’ve known of for a long while. It calls to you; you’re drawn to it.”

It’s something Keith’s noticed as well. Years ago when he’d found the Blue Lion’s cave, he had felt some sort of otherworldly force pulling him in. Even now when the druid had been disguised as an alien child, Keith immediately felt like he needed to follow them. He should have told Shiro that something seemed different about them.

He doesn’t know how long he was unconscious, but he’s willing to bet it’s been long enough for Shiro to recognize the lack of contact. He needs to get out of here.

“So what do you want with me?” Keith says, not wanting to beat around the bush any longer. The druid takes a step back and gestures to the wall behind him. With a small motion of his fingers the lights brighten to illuminate container after container of quintessence.

“It takes so long to get any quintessence from the native aliens here,” the druid laments. “It’s taken us years to gather what you see here.”

“So you finally got tired of torturing them and figured out you could drain more quintessence from me instead.” Keith fixes the druid with an unimpressed stare. “Very original. Hate to break it to you, but Lotor had the same idea a while back with a bunch of Alteans. Think he had you beat on output.”

The druid is silent for a moment and then lets out a cackle. He pulls forward a small table covered in various medical tools. “If we wanted to drain your quintessence, paladin, we would have taken it long ago. No.” He selects a syringe from the table. “Hiding in plain sight on a planet in the middle of your coalition territory, taking only small amounts at a time from a species with barely enough quintessence to matter, only having a small fleet attack when you’re nearby… you can’t possibly believe that to be caused by a lack of forethought. Your allies really ought to pay better attention.”

He walks to one of the containers of quintessence and fills the syringe. It glows sickeningly bright as he returns to Keith. Keith’s eyes widen as he starts to understand. Sharp tugs at the shackles restraining him do him no good. He can’t get away.

“In small doses, quintessence can heal. Exposure to high amounts, however, can be fatal to weaker beings.” The druid removes his mask so Keith can see his twisted smile while he presses the syringe to the side of Keith’s neck. “I’ve waited so long to see how much you can handle.”

Keith feels like all of the cells in his body are on fire, and his vision blurs. The pain doesn’t let up until a crashing sound echoes in from another room.

 

* * *

 

“Keith!”

“...Shiro...”

Conflicting rage and horror fill Shiro as he takes in Keith’s current state. He looks dazed, eyes unfocused, grimacing in pain and trying to appear stoic, but still Shiro sees something resembling relief hidden in his face when their eyes meet. Keith is so close, but so far from being safe.

Shiro’s gaze turns cold as his eyes dart up to the druid, who has turned to face them.

“So the other paladins arrive at last. I was expecting an interruption much sooner,” he mocks. He casts a glance over all of them, but deliberately makes sure to end on Shiro.

Shiro’s not in the mood to play games. “Let Keith go. Now.”

“I can’t do that. Keith is too important I’m afraid.” The druid looks down at Keith thoughtfully. “It’s a pity you arrived when you did. We were only just beginning.”

The click of Lance’s bayard being readied interrupts the druid. Lance looks furious, aiming the gun right for the druid’s face. The other paladins have their bayards drawn as well, just waiting to be given a reason to strike.

“Lance, don’t.” It kills him to say it. Shiro’s heart screams at him to just let Lance take the shot or better yet to attack the druid himself, but he knows that would only put Keith in more danger. He needs to keep his cool for Keith’s sake.

“You should listen to your friend, paladin. You never know what I might do if you anger me.” The druid tightens his grip in Keith’s hair, making the man wince.

“You’re not going to kill Keith. You already said you needed him,” Shiro says with finality. He slowly turns back to face the druid again, expression deadly. “But also because his life is the only thing stopping me from killing you right now.”

The druid looks unimpressed and simply huffs. “No matter. I can still make him suffer.” Shiro tenses but tries not to let it show on his face.

“Well don’t think we’re just gonna let you hurt him!” Lance argues. He’s begrudgingly lowered his bayard but it’s still at the ready.

“We will not allow you to take his quintessence,” Allura says. The druid laughs.

“It seems you’re in luck! Draining the black paladin of his quintessence would be such a waste,” he says coolly, “Keith will serve the Empire well.”

“The Galra Empire doesn’t exist anymore,” Pidge points out. “Have you missed everything that’s gone on recently? Zarkon and Honerva are both gone. The Galra are starting to move forward.”

“Zarkon and Honerva are gone, that’s true. We’ve been planning for that inevitability for decaphoebs,” he confirms. “But the Galra are only ‘moving forward’ because they have no strong leader to follow. Don’t you think Keith would make a wonderful new emperor? The leader of Voltron, here to lead us to victory or death.”

Unease runs through Shiro. “Keith would never-”

He ignores Shiro and continues. “Quintessence is such an interesting thing. It can heal or power ships, and every living being has it. If exposed to too much of it it brings out and exacerbates your negative qualities, even drive you insane. It leaves the mind quite open for suggestion. And if the person exposed to it happens to be especially sensitive to it… we’re so curious to see the power he’ll attain.”

The words take a second to process, but when they do Shiro’s attention snaps to Keith. He can not and will not allow Keith to be experimented on.

“You can’t do that!” Hunk says, looking horrified.

“We’ve already started. The initial infusion of quintessence was a success on all counts.” His grin is disturbing as he tugs Keith back upright. “Even Zarkon didn’t have this affinity for quintessence.”

Shiro’s heart shatters. It’s his fault that they didn’t reach Keith sooner. “ _No_.”

“Shiro.” Shiro’s heart pangs painfully in his chest at Keith’s strained voice. “Don’t worry about me. Just-” Keith is cut off as the druid shocks him once more, making him grit his teeth and writhe in his grasp. It’s more powerful than the last and it’s too much for him to handle. His eyes catch Shiro’s one last time before he goes limp.

Many people would have mistaken that look for simple desperation. Shiro knows better. Keith had looked so scared.

Shiro sees red. Shiro grabs the black bayard from where he has it strapped to the belt of his suit as if he’s compelled to do so. It transforms to a long spear in his grasp. Quick as a flash he lunges forward ready to plunge the spear straight through the druid’s chest, but within a split second of Shiro being able to make contact the druid vanishes out of sight with Keith. Shiro is furious.

“As much as I’d love to stay and defeat you,” the druid’s voice echoes from speakers all around the room, “I’m afraid the black paladin and I are late to a very important meeting. Don’t worry though, I’ve left something to keep you entertained while we’re gone.”

The sound of the Galra ship starting up fills the hangar, lighting up as it prepares to take off. At the same time the metal paneling of the hangar walls begins to shift, revealing dozens upon dozens of sentry bots. Shiro can hear the others begin to battle the onslaught of enemies but Shiro can only focus on the way the far wall opens up, presumably out of the cliff face from before.

The ship begins to move and Shiro starts to run after it until Pidge’s voice snaps him out of it. “Shiro, we need help here!”

The way the crowd of sentries closes in on the paladins is dangerous, keeping them penned into a small circle. Keith needs him, but so do his friends. As much as it pains him to do it, he turns back rushing into the fight. He turns on the comm channel to the ATLAS as he does so.

“Coran,” he says, as he skewers two sentry bots on his spear right before they get the jump on Hunk, “We have an enemy ship attempting to leave the planet, get the MFEs on it now.”

“On it, captain!” Coran replies, much too chipper for the current situation. Shiro has to duck as an enemy shot comes too close for comfort.

“How soon can you get the ATLAS in the air?”

“Oh dear, probably the fastest we can would be just over half a varga,” Coran says apologetically, “About half our crew is still making their way back from when you sent them out on guard.”

Shiro curses that decision, taking out the anger by taking out another sentry. “And it’s definitely not possible to take off without them and come back later?”

Coran yelps and shouts something that sounds like ‘quiznak!’ and then suddenly it’s Iverson’s voice on the other end of the comm. “Shirogane, you might be the captain of this ship but you are not leaving our men behind! Let Voltron handle the ship and you can get back here and explain to everyone what’s happening-”

He feels no regret turning off the comm channel in the middle of Iverson’s sentence. “We’re not going to have the ATLAS as back up, it’s all on us guys.”

“Well fine then!” Lance complains. “We’ve taken on plenty with just Voltron anyway! We can get Keith back just fine on our own!”

“Can’t exactly form Voltron when we’re short the Black Lion, Lance!” Pidge counters.

Shiro tries to just focus on defeating the sentries, the crowd of them slowly thinning out as Shiro’s frustration of taking so long to be able to follow after the druid mounts. They won’t even even have Voltron at their disposal but they’ll catch up and make him pay. They have to.

Allura finishes off the final sentry with a flourish. “We need to get back to the Lions, as quickly as possible!”

As if on cue, deafening roars bring their attention to the open exit to the hangar. The four lions swoop in and their respective paladins take off to board. Shiro hesitates for a moment.

“You can ride with me again, Shiro!” Lance calls back to him. He appreciates it, but it doesn’t stop how much it hurts him that he’s not able to do anything on his own. Right as he’s about to join Lance, he feels the familiar tug of a connection in the back of his mind, something that he hasn’t felt in a long time.

Shiro looks up in disbelief as the Black Lion comes to land beside the others, calling him to pilot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts so don't be shy about leaving a comment!
> 
> Two things I really wanted to see in VLD: Shiro's bayard weapon and him piloting Black one more time. I couldn't stop myself from putting that in. And the spear idea may have been influenced by how much I've been playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, but I really think it suits him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came out much longer than I expected, so hopefully that makes up for the wait! Enjoy!

Sitting down in the Black Lion’s cockpit is nostalgic and comforting. It’s been so long since he’d last been able to sit in the pilot’s seat, and his most recent memories of it are inherited from his clone. Existing on the astral plane within Black was a different experience entirely, cold and lonely.

Black’s presence tickles at the back of his mind, a warm welcome but at the same time strongly urging him to hurry and find Keith. Shiro has no doubts that this is only a temporary arrangement, as Keith has more than proven himself as the black paladin and he has the ATLAS to return to, but he’s not going to waste the chance for a proper farewell flight. He puts his hand on Black’s console and smiles. “One last ride, huh? Don’t worry, we’ll get him back.”

The comm channel opens between all the paladins and his friends’ faces pop up on the display.

Transitioning back to being paladin leader is effortless. “Alright everyone. Let’s go.”

The Lions take off and it isn’t long before they’re leaving the planets atmosphere. The rush as Shiro guides Black up into the vastness of space is something he never thought he would feel again. If the situation they’re in was less dire he would be elated.

“You have no idea how good it is to see you piloting a lion again,” Lance says, grinning at him via the video feed. “I wonder what Keith’s gonna say when he sees you swoop in with Black to save him like his paladin in shining armor!”

The statement is meant to embarrass him or make him laugh, but it only makes him tighten his grip on Black’s controls. He tries to convince himself that Keith will just be shaken up or still unconscious when they find him, nothing that some time in the med bay won’t heal with ease. They’ll be able to let him recuperate on the way back to Earth, and by the time they get there he’ll be well enough for Shiro to bring him to that restaurant he reserved. He’ll tell Keith he loves him and everything will be okay. But he knows things are never that easy for them.

Shiro hails the MFE pilots for their coordinates, hoping they were able to follow the druid’s ship as ordered.

“We’re in pursuit, Captain,” Griffin responds, while the paladins adjust their path to head for the location he sends them, “But the ship is faster than ours and we’re quickly losing ground.”

Shiro pushes Black as much as he dares, the others right behind him. It takes a few minutes for the MFEs to come into view. “We’ll be taking it from here. Rendezvous back at the ATLAS and make sure Coran meets us as soon as possible.”

“Roger that,” the MFEs all say in unison. They all swiftly turn back. As much as Shiro appreciated their help, they couldn’t keep up with the speed of Voltron or the druid ship.

Far out in front of them, Shiro sees a tiny black speck no bigger than a few pixels on Black’s display. It slowly grows on screen as they’re closing in, and he’s able to make out the form of the druid’s ship.

“So what’s the plan?” Hunk says. “We can’t just attack while Keith’s on board.”

“Absolutely not,” Shiro affirms frustratedly. “Pidge, is there any way to disable that ship without damaging it?”

“He’s blocking all unknown incoming signals. I’m not going to be able to disable any of its systems without having access to its network. Even then it would take longer than we have for me to hang back and figure out a way to bypass their encryption remotely,” Pidge says apologetically.

There’s a bright flash ahead of them, just past the small outline of the Galra ship. A wormhole.

“Guess we’re just going to have to follow and see if we can corner him,” Shiro orders. “We need to make it through that wormhole before it closes. Hurry!”

They push the Lions past their limits, moving as quickly as they physically can. Shiro watches the druid’s ship vanish into the wormhole, gritting his teeth and forcing away the anxiety of losing sight of Keith again, dead set on catching up.

“It’s closing!” Lance warns, and sure enough the wormhole is shrinking.

“We’re going to make it,” Shiro states firmly, furrowing his brow and focusing on nothing other than shooting forward towards his goal.

It’s a close call. The wormhole is barely large enough for the Black Lion by the time they whip through it, and there’s terrible turbulence rocking them as they enter the whirling tunnel within.

“This wormhole isn’t stable at all! It might collapse before we reach the end!” Allura says, grunting with the effort of keeping the Blue Lion steady. The exit of the wormhole was wavering even as the distant ship ahead made its way out. “It might not let us out at the same location as them!”

“Just stay together!” Shiro orders. The integrity of the wormhole was crumbling by the second. He could hear Hunk yelp as the walls seemed to crush inwards on themselves. The exit was following suit. “Get it close formation!”

The Lions formed a close V, as near to each other as they dared without bumping into one another. The exit flickers twice, and Shiro desperately begs the universe to just let them have luck this once. The universe isn’t that kind.

The exit closes a split second before they hit it, sending them spiraling out of the wormhole by bursting out through one of its walls instead. The Black Lion tumbles uncontrollably for a moment before Shiro is able to steady it.

“Is everyone alright?” he asks quickly, turning to look around for his friends. “Did everyone make it through?”

“We all made it… barely,” Hunk says, sounding out of breath. The others murmur in agreement. Shiro feels relief for only a second before panic spikes again.

“Does anyone have eyes on the druid’s ship?” he asks frantically.

“I think we didn’t end up in the same spot they did,” Lance speculates hesitantly. Shiro’s heart clenches painfully in his chest. He curses under his breath.

“He definitely ended up somewhere else, but he’s not far,” Pidge chimes in. Shiro can see her typing with gusto on screen. “I wasn’t able to access the system of the druid’s ship but I did manage to save his signal pattern. I’m tracing it now and it looks like he’s about an hour from here if we go top speed.”

“Thank you, Pidge,” Shiro says sincerely. “Everyone, let’s move!”

 

* * *

 

Keith feels himself being lifted up. He doesn’t have the focus or strength to try to resist. Barely able to crack his eyes open, all he can see is a swirl of dark gray, violet, and silver. The world keeps spinning around, he can’t get his eyes to center on anything. It’s nauseating.

Everything goes black again, then the unsteady mess of color returns more strongly. He can’t tell if he fell unconscious again or if he just blinked. There’s noise all around him, muffled voices that he can’t make out and the sound of clinking of metal that just makes his head ache more.

The voices seem to deliberate for a while, then Keith feels himself being laid down onto a padded surface. His arms and legs are restrained and he feels a sharp prick in his arm. There’s some more mumbled discussion and then there’s a terrible burning sensation radiating out from the same spot on his arm. It’s excruciating.

Energy floods through him and he thrashes against his restraints. Shapes move around him, and the voices become annoyed. The words being spoken around him are starting to become clearer.

“...struggling too much….”

“...rejecting it….”

“...I’ll handle it.”

A fingers press against Keith’s temple for a moment, and the world settles into a solid state instead of the sickening swirl. The dark gray and violet are nowhere to be seen, just bright white that’s almost blinding and some orange. The edges of his vision are still hazy. Everything has a soft dreamlike quality.

There are doctors standing all around him, people he didn’t know. But he’d recognize the face looking down at him anywhere.

“...Shiro?”

Shiro smiles at him. “Don’t worry, Keith. Everything is alright.”

His heart calms down at the sound of the familiar voice. “Where are we? What happened?”

“Don’t you remember? We’re on the ATLAS. We brought you home.”

Keith tries to remember but everything is blurring together in his mind; the harder he tries, the more the memories seem to slip away. He’ll just have to trust Shiro’s word.

He tries to let himself relax, laying back onto the cot he was laying on, but the horrible burn kicks up again in his arm. The world flashes dark for a moment before returning to the white of the ATLAS. His head snaps up to see what’s causing the pain, spying an IV in his arm hooked up to some sort of machinery he doesn’t recognize. He notices his wrists and ankles are strapped down. He struggles once more, but Shiro puts a hand on his shoulder to push him back down.

“Relax, Keith. You need to rest now,” Shiro says, voice so much more monotone than Keith’s ever heard it. The expression on his face is too stilted, nothing like the soft smile Shiro always saves for him. Something is wrong, but…. “We’re only trying to help you. Just sleep.”

He just has to listen to Shiro, right? He trusts him. He needs to do what Shiro says. But even still the pain persists.

“Shiro… it hurts…” he says weakly.

Shiro’s smile doesn’t waver at the statement. “I know. You don’t have to be afraid. The pain will be over soon.”

 

* * *

 

Nearly an hour has passed since they exited the wormhole. Lance and Hunk had been chatting idly together as they flew at first, knowing they had a long time before they reached their target, but Allura had shushed them after a short while as she saw just how tense Shiro looked. He couldn’t understand how the others could stay so lighthearted while Keith was still in danger. The rest of the journey went by with them in a nervous silence as they moved at top speed towards the location of the druid’s ship.

“Shiro,” Pidge’s voice cuts through the tension. “I’m detecting more than a few Galra ships up ahead.”

He should have guessed as much. “How many are there?”

“Basically a full fleet,” she reveals, “A command ship, a couple larger ships, and then a bunch of small ones. The druid must have landed on the command ship because their signals are originating from the same position.”

The display of the Black Lion lights up, showing a chart with the Galra’s locations. A red light represents the command ship, where Keith must be.

“So we go in guns blazing and take out the small fry, then we bust into the big ship and get Keith!” Lance suggests.

“We can’t just take our time and get rid of all the other ships. They have Keith as leverage and we can’t trust that they won’t use him against us,” Shiro says. “We absolutely need to get him to safety first.”

“A few of us can always cause a distraction while the others break in to save Keith?” Hunk says. “Just like when we first got the Red Lion.”

“If only a couple Lions were attacking, they’d know the rest of us are up to something.” Shiro sighs, there’s no perfect way to guarantee Keith’s safety but they need to act quickly.

“Not necessarily,” Allura cuts in. “They think of Keith as the black paladin now, so they may not realize we have the Black Lion. So if we go to attack while Shiro sneaks in, it should give him enough of a distraction.”

“And I still have the cloaking devices installed in the Lions! You can come around from behind and we’ll attack when you give the signal,” Pidge says.

“I know it’s risky to send you in by yourself but...” Allura trails off hesitantly.

“Nah, it just makes sense that it would be Shiro to save him,” Lance says. “You go get him, we’ve got your back.”

“Yeah, we’ll give you as much time as we can. You can count on us!” Hunk agrees.

His friends are more than capable of holding off a fleet of Galra on their own, he knows that. After everything they’ve been through this should be considered easy. Shiro allows himself to smile. “Thanks guys.”

They go their separate ways. Shiro activating the cloaking feature Pidge had created as he makes his way carefully around the edge of the halted fleet. He lands the Black Lion on the underside of the ship, hoping that he’ll remain unnoticed at least until the paladins begin their attack.

He uses a tool to cut through the side of the ship to slip in unnoticed, and Shiro realizes that Hunk was fairly accurate when comparing it to when they’d retrieved the Red Lion for Keith. He may have sent Keith off on his own on that occasion, but this time he’s going to make sure they stay together.

“Ready when you are,” Shiro whispers through the comms, and then he hears thunderous noises echoing from outside. Alarms sound throughout the ship. He peaks out from around a corner into a main hallway and sees two guards running to their posts. Easy.

He waits until the last moment when the pair of guards are just about to pass then lunges with the black bayard, instantly taking one down. The other flinches back. Shiro points the bayard at him but doesn’t strike.

“Where is Keith?” he demands. The guard doesn’t speak so Shiro asks again, more ferociously. “The black paladin, where is he?”

“...in the med bay,” the Galra says reluctantly. Shiro nods and then for his own safety slams the base of the spear against the guard’s head, knocking him out. The less people able to report his presence, the easier it would be to get Keith out safely.

Most Galra ships were built more or less the same so Shiro worked off memory to navigate his way to their med bay. He’s honestly surprised Keith’s not being locked away in a cell or in one of their torture rooms. But as long as he can find him, that’s what matters.

He may not be as stealthy as Keith but he keeps himself hidden, avoiding contact with the Galra soldiers that are rushing around the ship. He’s prepared to come face to face with a druid at any moment. Eventually he makes it to the correct part of the massive ship and stands in front of the sliding door. He takes a deep breath and smashes it in.

There’s a commotion as he bursts in, the group of Galra inside turning to face the door from where they stand surrounding a single cot. From behind them, Shiro can just barely see a familiar hairstyle.

“Get away from him!” he shouts, jumping forward to attack without restraint.

One of the Galra is sent careening across the room into the wall as Shiro lifts him with his Altean arm and throws him effortlessly. He makes a quick movement with the bayard, taking out another who foolishly decides to try to fight back. He’s no match for Shiro. The rest of the small group of Galra go down like flies, but Shiro doesn’t stop to admire his work. He rushes to Keith’s side.

Shiro flinches as he sees Keith’s condition. His skin is a faint shade of violet and there’s fresh bruises around his wrists where he’s clearly pulled at his bindings. Most disturbing is the IV in his arm, glowing with quintessence it’s injecting into him. Ever so carefully he works to remove it, seeing Keith jerk in pain in response as he tosses it to the side. Shiro makes quick work of the restraints holding him down and then reaches up to gently cup Keith’s cheek.

“Keith? Can you hear me?” he asks, trying to stay calm for Keith’s sake.

Keith’s eyelids flutter briefly, and then crack open just barely enough for Shiro to be horrified. His eyes are glowing pure gold with no irises or pupils. Just like Zarkon and Haggar. Despite that, he can tell Keith is looking at him.

“...Sh...” Keith tries to say something but his voice is too dry. Shiro strokes a hand through his hair soothingly.

“It’s okay, Keith. I’m here now. You’re safe,” he says softly. Keith leans into his touch. "I'm going to get you out of here, just hang on.”

He gently shifts his hand under Keith’s back to help guide him to sit up, trying to ignore the pained whimper he hears him make. Keith is shaking like a leaf when Shiro manages to get him upright, definitely unable to hold himself up on his own. He wobbles for a moment and falls to the side right against Shiro’s chest.

“...can’t...” he mumbles quietly. Shiro’s heart pangs and he puts his arms around Keith fully in a comforting hug. He rests his cheek against Keith’s soft hair, trying to soothe the man as best he can. He can’t help but feel his own anxieties melt away with Keith in his arms again.

“You’re going to be okay. I promise.”

Just as he goes to lift Keith up so they can escape, he hears a noise at the doorway. The shape of the druid’s silhouette fills him with fury. He caused Keith’s pain and Shiro cannot forgive that.

“Out of the way,” Shiro says through gritted teeth, readying the bayard.

The druid doesn’t respond other than giving him a sick smile. He raises a glowing hand towards them and Shiro instinctively moves to shield Keith from an incoming blast, but it doesn’t come. The glow just intensifies and Keith goes rigid in his arms.

“Keith!” he says frantically. He looks down to see Keith’s eyes have snapped open wide, and a faint purple haze surrounds him. Shiro angrily turns back to the druid. “What did you do?!”

The druid just laughs and Shiro snaps. He moves to lash out with the bayard but he’s caught off guard when he’s suddenly shoved back, none too gently. There’s a scrambling movement and suddenly Keith is standing between him and the druid, glaring at Shiro.

Keith’s face is twisted up in rage. “I won’t let you hurt Shiro!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'd really love to hear feedback so don't be shy about leaving a comment. :)
> 
> This fic is almost over! Hopefully you've enjoyed so far!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could apologize again for the time it took to upload this, but I'd just be repeating myself. But at least this chapter is much longer than I expected it to be!
> 
> Enjoy!

“Keith?” Shiro says shakily, staring at the man in shock. “What are you talking about?”

Keith gets into a fighting stance, still glaring back at Shiro with unrestrained hatred. “You already captured and tortured me. Do you really think I’m just going to stand back and let you hurt Shiro too?”

Shiro is too lost for words to respond as he puts together the pieces in his mind, trying to understand. The druid steps forward and puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder, making Shiro feel sick to his stomach. When his own voice pours out of the druid’s mouth he feels the bottom drop out of his stomach.

“Don’t worry, Keith. He knows he can’t win against you,” the druid says, mimicking his own intonation so closely to a point that has Shiro’s skin crawling. The druid looks pointedly at Shiro as he continues. “And _I_ know you would do anything to protect me, wouldn’t you?”

Keith’s voice goes soft as he responds, even though he keeps his guard up. “Of course I would, Shiro.”

Shiro flinches at the exchange. Keith has done so much to protect Shiro right from when he crashed back to Earth the first time. Even when he’d died and been trapped on the astral plane, Keith had stopped at nothing to bring him back. More than that, Keith brings all his walls down and bares his heart fully for Shiro. He has no doubt that Keith loves him. The fact that the druid has the audacity to exploit Keith’s feelings and desire to protect Shiro as a way to control him and hurt him even more is just too cruel.

“You have to fight back against the magic he’s using on you, Keith,” Shiro tries to explain. “He’s controlling you.”

Keith scoffs at him. “I’m in complete control of myself!”

“Keith, he’s just trying to confuse you,” the druid says, still in Shiro’s voice. “He’s just here to distract us. The Galra have stolen the Lions.”

Keith makes an alarmed noise, as does Shiro. Suddenly what the druid has planned is clear. He doesn’t know how much quintessence it takes to corrupt a person’s mind, but he has to imagine it would take a lot to be able to make a person go completely against their principles, especially someone like Keith who is immensely loyal. It would be much simpler to make him think he’s still on the same side. To make him think he’s protecting the universe, protecting those he cares about, would be the only way to make Keith willing to start another galactic war when they’re only just recovering from the first one.

“He even stole your bayard,” the druid says, gesturing to the weapon in Shiro’s hand. “We need to stop him before he can get the others.”

Keith nods and the druid pulls something out of his robe and hands it to Keith. His luxite blade. Shiro had been wondering where it had gone since Keith never went anywhere without it. It’s when Keith brandishes the blade at him that horrifying memories flash in front of his eyes.

_Keith barely holding Shiro’s arm back from slicing into him, desperately telling him he loves him. And Shiro still burns a permanent scar into his face._

“Keith, listen to me. I’m not going to fight you,” Shiro says, breathless from the nightmarish memory. “I swore I wouldn’t fight you again.”

Keith’s brow furrows in confusion, but it doesn’t stop him from moving in to attack. Shiro can only dodge, suddenly understanding completely what Keith had felt fighting his clone. He doesn’t know if it’s better or worse that Keith thought he was doing the right thing, rather than knowingly attempting to hurt him.

He can’t fight Keith, but he has to stop the druid.

Shiro makes a dash towards the druid with the bayard outstretched, but he already knows he won’t hit. The druid moves like lightning. He zips past Shiro and delivers a sharp blow to his back, knocking him forward. Shiro immediately has to roll to the side to avoid a blow from Keith’s blade.

He’s astonished at Keith’s sudden vigor after he had just seen the weak state he was in without the druid’s magic. If the quintessence Keith had been infused with was being stabilized by the druid’s magic, he could only hope that it wasn’t too late to reverse the effects. He didn’t have time to worry about that as the druid was suddenly in his face to deliver another attack.

The exchange drags on with Shiro trying to avoid contact with Keith at all costs and lashing out at the druid to no avail. Keith is ruthless in his attacks and Shiro can see him grow more and more frustrated as he fails to land a single hit. The golden glow covering his eyes is glinting dangerously. Shiro knows the guilt Keith would have if he found out he had hurt him, so he needs to keep dodging.

But one thing was beginning to stand out to Shiro. Since the battle had begun the druid hadn’t used any of his magic, not even to teleport away from Shiro’s attacks. If he did, Shiro would be in much worse condition. The druid wouldn’t just go easy on him with no reason.

It’s only once the druid gets frustrated as well that he understands. Shiro dodges another of Keith’s blows which puts him at the perfect angle to drive the bayard right towards the druid. He’s a second too late to get out of the way entirely and the spear grazes his side through his cloak. The druid grunts in pain and stumbles back.

“Shiro!” Keith’s horrified voice hurts Shiro’s heart. “Are you okay?”

The druid straightens back up, glances at Keith once and then fixes Shiro with a furious glare. “I do not have time for this!”

Whatever way his magic is affecting Keith’s perception of the world around him, there’s no way he’d be able to play off using magic if he was pretending to be Shiro. He raises his arm outstretched towards Shiro, crackling with violet magic.

“Shiro?” Keith says confusedly. “How-”

The druid fires a blast of electricity. Shiro doesn’t have anywhere to dodge to as his previous movement had left him too close to the corner of the room. He brings up his Altean arm, hoping to shield himself from at least some of the blast.

He doesn’t expect his arm to absorb the entirety of it. Shiro can feel the energy pulsing through it along with the violet glow now encasing his arm.

“What?!” the druid exclaims, still maintaining his mimicry of Shiro.

The druid’s shock gives him an opportunity and he takes it. As if on instinct he directs his arm towards the druid and sends the energy stored within it back at him. The druid rears back as he’s struck and falls to the ground. He twitches as the electric shock flows through him.

Shiro sees a movement out of the corner of his eye as Keith makes to rush to the druid’s side. He’s distracted. Shiro knocks the blade out of his hands and pins him up against the wall to keep him safely out of the way.

Keith panics as he struggles in Shiro’s grasp. “Stop! Don’t hurt Shiro!”

Using only his human arm to hold Keith back, he holds the black bayard in his Altean hand sending it to spear into the druid while he has the chance. The druid doesn’t even attempt to move. Shiro steels himself to ignore Keith’s distress as the spear hits its mark.

“No!” Sure enough, Keith cries out as the druid crumples forward. “No, please….”

Something shatters in Shiro’s chest as he sees the despair in Keith’s face. Keith has had to lose him too many times already and Shiro wishes he’d never had to see the devastated reaction to it happening again. He shifts so he can look Keith in the eye, desperate to comfort him despite having to keep him pinned for his own safety. “Keith, it’s alright. I’m right here, I’m okay.”

Keith ignores him, continuing to struggle and keeping his eyes locked on the druid’s collapsed form. But when the druid’s body disintegrates into a shower of golden dust Keith goes stiff. He blinks several times and although the gold in his eyes doesn’t disappear, he seems to come back to himself. As he takes in his surroundings he seems to grow horrified.

“What…?” He looks up at Shiro and takes a sharp breath. “Shiro? How…?”

“Keith,” Shiro sighs in relief. He finally releases his grip on Keith’s arms only to pull him into a tight embrace. If defeating the druid hadn’t broken the spell on Keith, Shiro doesn’t know what he would have done. Keith is still for a moment still trying to process the situation, but then he wraps his arms around Shiro in return, squeezing him like he’s afraid to let go.

They stay like that for longer than they should given the circumstances, until Shiro hears a voice coming over the group comm channel.

“Shiro! What’s your status?” Lance says, “We could really use some help!”

“I’ve got Keith. I’ll be with you soon,” he responds. Knowing they have to get moving, Shiro reluctantly pulls back from Keith. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Keith nods and makes to follow Shiro as he leads him out of the room, but he stumbles and grabs his head, letting out a pained hiss. Shiro is quick to support him with an arm around his shoulders and Keith clutches at him in an attempt to stay steady on his feet. It startles him to notice that Keith’s skin tone seems to be growing more and more noticeably violet. Without the druid’s magic stabilizing him, it seems the quintessence is once again wreaking havoc on Keith.

“Just hold on a little longer,” he says softly as he guides Keith out into the hall. He keeps their pace as quick as he dares with Keith’s condition slowly deteriorating.

Supporting Keith against his side with his human arm, he keeps the Altean arm at the ready with the black bayard. The extra reach of the floating prosthetic allows him to fight without relinquishing his hold on Keith or jostling him. They only have two small skirmishes to deal with on their way back to the Black Lion. Luckily they’re only small groups of guards that Shiro fends off with ease, but there are other druids somewhere and he needs to be ready for them.

When they finally reach the Black Lion, Shiro escorts Keith to the cargo hold where the makeshift bed he had used when they were traveling back to Earth so long ago is still set up. Although Keith argued that he left it there for Kosmo to be able to rest on, Shiro has a suspicion that Keith uses it for quick naps when he’s too busy to go back to his own quarters. Regardless, he’s thankful for it’s presence as he carefully helps Keith to lie down.

Breathing heavily and shaking like a leaf, Keith tries to make himself comfortable. As Shiro gently strokes a few strands of hair out of Keith’s face, he can feel how his forehead burns feverishly hot. “I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

Keith looks up at him and nods. “...go help the others.”

Shiro rushes to the Black Lion’s cockpit, turning on the group comm channel as he takes off. “Keith’s safe on the Black Lion. Coming to give you back up now.”

“About time!” Lance responds. Shiro enters the battle just in time to see the Red Lion take out two small Galra ships before rolling out of the way of an ion cannon blast from the command ship. “You didn’t think to sabotage some of their systems while you were in there?”

Shiro blasts a ship away from the Green Lion before sternly replying, “I don’t know, maybe I was a little more focused on making sure Keith is safe?”

Lance mumbles out an apology while Hunk rams into a ship heading right towards Shiro, knocking it off course. “Is he alright?” he asks worriedly.

“I don’t know what the quintessence is doing to him but he’s not doing well,” Shiro says, “He needs medical attention as soon as possible.”

“Way ahead of you. I’ve already messaged the ATLAS our coordinates and Coran said they’ll have the med bay ready by the time they arrive,” Pidge says. Another blast from the ion cannon has the Lions scattering away from each other.

“We need to take down the main ship!” Allura says.

The others sound their agreement and Shiro readies himself for what he knows they have to do. It had been so long since he’s had to say it and something in his heart lightens as he speaks. “Only one thing for it then. _Form Voltron!_ ”

The rush of the Lions coming together is something that Shiro cherishes. Watching the others pilot Voltron while he remained on the ATLAS always made him long for it, thinking he would never be able to experience it again. The thoughts and feelings of all the paladins come together, an indescribable bond between them. He can feel all of them distinctly: Allura, Lance, Pidge, Hunk… and somewhere faintly even without him piloting, he can feel Keith too. Shiro can feel his pain and fear but most prominently he can feel Keith’s overwhelming trust in him. He can’t let him down.

Voltron fully forms and Shiro looks out at the Galra fleet in front of him. “Focus on the ion cannon first, then we can worry about everything else. This is nothing we haven’t done before.”

They fly forward towards the cannon. “Lance, sword!”

“You got it!”

Lance uses the red bayard to summon Voltron’s sword and they deftly slice through the metal holding up the massive cannon. It’s quick and easy, just like the numerous times they had done it in the past. With the main danger out of the way, Voltron turns to face the fleet once more.

“Alright everyone, let’s-” Shiro is cut off as excruciating pain shoots through him. Violet sparks flood through Voltron and he can hear the others screaming in pain through the comms. Even when the attack ceases, Shiro sees the sinister violet glow still encasing them. A video feed appears on his display, showing a trio of druids.

“Paladins of Voltron,” the druid standing in front says calmly. “Our patience is at an end. We will forgive the death of one of our brethren should you return the black paladin to us.”

“What so you can torture him even more?” Hunk says, the rarity of his anger making his words even more harsh. “No way!”

“If he is returned we can promise that no harm will come to him.” Fury burns through Shiro once more as he thinks of the pain Keith has had to suffer through already. He is more than done with the druids, but a plan starts to form in his mind.

“We would never give up Keith without a fight-” Lance starts but Shiro cuts him off, speaking authoritatively.

“Alright, you win.”

“What?!” the chorus of shocked voices over the comm channel nearly deafens him.

“You’ve made the right decision.” The face of the druid twists up into a smirk. The violet magic surrounding Voltron starts to pull them forward towards the bridge of the command ship.

“Shiro, what the hell?” Lance yells angrily. “You can’t be serious!”

“It’s for Keith’s sake,” he says, trying to not show any emotion on his face. The black bayard is grasped tightly in his hand, below the view of the video feed. The others continue to argue and yell at him over the comms as they’re drawn closer to the ship.

When the pull of the druids’ magic brings them to a certain speed and distance Shiro suddenly jams the bayard into its waiting port on his console, bringing out Voltron’s massive booster wings. The combination of being drawn in and the extra boost brings them to an unimaginable speed. Shiro quickly calls out, “Lance, use the sword!”

“Huh?! Right!”

There’s not enough time for the druids to react as Voltron careens into the bridge, blade first. The video showing the druids cuts out to black on screen as they zips through the entirety of the command ship, slicing all the way through to the engines at the far end. Shiro receives one last communication from the druids right before the ship engine explodes to engulf the ship’s remains.

“He’s not going to survive without our magic.”

The words ring in his head even as he leads Voltron to destroy the remains of the fleet. As soon as the last of the ships is gone, Voltron splits back into the individual Lions. Shiro doesn’t wait to hear the celebratory cheers from his friends, he’s immediately out of the pilot’s seat and rushing back to the cargo bay.

Keith is curled up in fetal position on the makeshift bed, twitching and shaking with his eyes wide open and unblinking. Still glowing bright gold. His skin has turned pure purple at this point and his Galra traits have taken over.

“Keith! Can you hear me?” Shiro says, taking him into his arms to try to calm him. Keith doesn’t respond, like he can’t even tell Shiro is there. Shiro doesn’t realize he had left the group comm channel on, and Allura’s voice sounds off.

“Is he alright?” she asks.

“No- I don’t know, he’s not responding-” Shiro can feel himself begin to panic but he shoves it down.

“Stay calm, Shiro,” Allura says, “The ATLAS has just arrived, we’ll be able to get him the help he needs.”

Shiro can feel the Black Lion moving of it’s own, but he barely registers it while his attention is locked on the trembling frame of the man in his arms. But the second he feels them touch down in the ATLAS’ hangar he lifts Keith up and rushes to exit the Lion. He can see the other paladins rushing out of their Lions towards him, but most importantly Allura who knows more about quintessence than Shiro will ever understand.

“He doesn’t look good,” Lance mumbles as they all gather together. Allura gets one look at Keith’s state and her face falls.

“You have to do something, he’s only getting worse,” he manages to say even as his heart is lodged in his throat. Allura places one hand against Keith’s cheek but quickly pulls it back with a wince as if she’d been burned.

“There’s too much quintessence. He’s succumbing to it,” she says quietly. “Zarkon and Honerva were both corrupted by quintessence slowly over time, but it looks like they were trying to expedite the process. They’ve put more into him than any living being should be able to handle in one sitting.”

“Then we have to pull it out of him,” Shiro decides, “You managed to pull me out of the Black Lion, can’t you do the same here?”

Allura shakes her head. “I was able to transfer you from one place to another. I would need to have something to transfer the quintessence into and we don’t have anything that would be able to withstand it. It’s amazing that Keith has been able to hang on for this long.”

“What would we need to get that could handle the quintessence?” Pidge asks.

“Well, the Galra have specially made containers for transporting it but any that would have been on that ship were most likely destroyed in the explosion,” Allura laments. “Other than that Balmeran crystals can withstand incalculable amounts of quintessence. But I don’t think any Balmera are near enough to our location.”

“We have a Balmeran crystal powering the ATLAS,” Shiro quickly interjects. “What if-”

“We’d need to pull it out of the power system,” Allura quickly shoots him down, “If we did that the ship would power down and we only have a brief window of emergency power before the oxygen production would shut down and it would kill us all. We can’t.”

Shiro is about to retort when Keith moves in his arms again, seemingly looking up at Shiro and making a small noise of discomfort. Shiro brings his Altean hand up to rest gently against Keith’s cheek. “Just hold on, Keith. We’ll figure this out-”

He freezes as he looks at his hand; with the touch to Keith it had begun to glow brightly. It was so obvious and yet he hadn’t even thought of it.

The Altean prosthetic is powered by a crystal.

He looks up at Allura and he doesn’t even have to say anything for her to nod in agreement. She lays her hands on top of Shiro’s prosthetic as he keeps it pressed against Keith’s cheek. Her Altean markings begin to glow and his arm lights up like a beacon.

It takes a moment of waiting with bated breath, but slowly the violet starts to fade from Keith’s complexion. He blinks once and the golden sheen covering his eyes vanishes, leaving him still with Galra yellow sclera but the violet irises that Shiro loves finally come back into view.

There’s a loud crackling noise as Shiro’s prosthetic short circuits and powers off, but Allura catches it before it can fall away. Shiro doesn’t care about that though, not with Keith finally ceasing his shaking. He squints his eyes as he tries to focus and Shiro leans forward to make it easier on him.

“...Shiro,” he says, voice hoarse and dry. “You did it.”

“I told you I’d never give up on you,” Shiro responds softly. Relief floods through him and he can’t hold himself back from leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Keith’s forehead. Keith is safe. He’ll never let anyone take him away again.

He doesn’t relinquish his hold on Keith, even when the med team arrives at the hangar with a stretcher. He insists on carrying Keith to the med bay himself. And as Keith lies on the bed with doctors hovering over him, Shiro doesn’t let go of his hand. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus ends the main fight of this fic! Just one more chapter left to wrap things up.  
> I'm so thankful for all the feedback I've gotten on this fic, and I really hope you've all enjoyed it so far. Please don't be afraid to leave a comment, each one I get makes me so happy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well my laptop crashed and it took a few days to be fixed, so that's why this took longer than expected. But we're finally at the end! I really hope everyone enjoys this final chapter!

Shiro stays with Keith as long as he can. It isn’t too long after he’s brought to the med bay that Keith falls asleep, clearly exhausted from the ordeal he’s been through. Allura assures Shiro that Keith’s quintessence levels have returned to normal, but he can’t help but worry about him while he’s still in such a weakened state.

His Altean arm had been delivered to Coran, and the man was more than happy to message Shiro to inform him that it wasn’t beyond repair. Once they were able to find another receptacle for the quintessence within it they would be able to begin fixing it.

Shiro is informed by a crewman that the ATLAS is being brought back to the planet where everything had occurred in order to clear up loose ends before returning to Earth. He had intended to stay by Keith’s side even then, but eventually Iverson arrives to bring him up to the ATLAS conference room for a meeting with leaders from the local system. Despite his annoyance at Shiro for running off instead of taking care of his responsibilities, Iverson looks more apologetic when he sees the state Keith is in.

“I know Keith is especially important to you. So I’m sorry if I seemed insensitive earlier,” Iverson says, “But you’re the captain. People look to you for direction and we need you to be here when things get messy.”

“I’m not going to apologize for going to rescue him,” Shiro says definitively, squeezing Keith’s hand. He lets out a sigh as he continues, “But you’re right. I’ll make sure to fulfill my responsibilities as captain in future.”

Despite having no regrets for the actions he took in order to save Keith, looking back on it now Shiro cringes at the lack of thought he had for the hundreds of personnel under his command. There’s an enormous amount of damage control he needs to handle and the workaholic within him is anxious to get to work.

He glances down at Keith’s peaceful sleeping face, a relief after seeing him in so much pain. Having Keith aboard the ATLAS, his own ship, somewhere he knows for certain that he has the ability to protect him, gives Shiro the peace of mind to be able to leave his side for now. He gives Keith’s hand one last squeeze, more to reassure himself than anything, and follows Iverson out of the med bay.

Several hours are spent in the meeting room explaining the events that had occurred. Shiro keeps his emotions in check and diplomatically informs the concerned leaders about the plot that had been unfolding right under their noses. The anger the leaders feel about not being informed immediately of the presence of a Galra base is understandable, but despite his calm demeanor Shiro is again reminded of how much he dislikes the bureaucracy of diplomacy.

As soon as he steps out of the meeting, he is immediately swept to the bridge where he gives a debriefing broadcasted to the entirety of the ATLAS crew. After that his night is a whirlwind of giving out orders, setting up reports, and carrying out other small but crucial tasks. There’s no time for him to rest.

Remembering the aliens that had still been trapped in the druid’s base, he sends out a rescue crew with Allura. She’s able to slowly help restore the victims with the quintessence that had been left behind in the base, but it’s a slow and exhausting process. Lance had insisted on going with her to make sure she doesn’t overexert herself, and based on the report Shiro receives afterward it was more than necessary. The dozens of victims are all saved and returned to their families, but Allura is in desperate need of recuperation.

By the time things are finally straightened out enough for the ATLAS to be able to leave the planet, Shiro has been awake and working for more than 40 hours. The Blade of Marmora had been contacted to come in and were on their way to do a more thorough investigation of the druid’s base, but other than that Shiro has worked tirelessly to make sure everything was properly settled. As soon as the ATLAS is airborne he’s basically shoved out from the bridge by Veronica.

“You’ve done more than enough!” she insists. “Go back to your quarters and get some sleep, you’ve earned it!”

Rather than follow her advice, Shiro instead heads straight to the med bay. He’s not going to be able to rest until he’s been able to check on Keith’s condition. As he’s approaching the room, he can hear voices echo out into the hallway.

“Come on, you just have to say something and it’ll be fine!” That’s definitely Hunk’s voice, speaking in an upbeat and supportive tone. But it’s the next voice that speaks that puts Shiro’s heart at ease.

“Sorry, not gonna happen,” Keith says. He sounds much better than the last time Shiro had heard him speak, like he’s already back to full strength.

“Well that’s a shame…,” Hunk says disappointedly, sighing. Deciding that it was wrong to eavesdrop any longer, Shiro steps into the room to see Keith sitting up in bed with Hunk sitting to the side. They both look up as he enters.

“Shiro,” Keith says, giving him that small smile he reserves just for Shiro. There’s was no violet shade left in his skin tone, and all of his Galra traits had subsided finally. Just back to his normal self as if nothing had ever happened.

He can’t help but move in to hug Keith as tightly as he can with one arm. When Keith hugs him back Shiro feels like he can finally relax, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. Keith’s grip on him is strong, reminding Shiro that he really is alright. Safe at last. He rests his cheek against Keith’s soft hair and settles. It’s only once Hunk coughs a small ‘ahem’ that Shiro remembers they aren’t alone.

“Sorry, hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” he says as he pulls back sheepishly. Hunk looks at Keith expectantly, but Keith seems to return the look with a mild glare. Hunk sighs.

“Nope, nothing. Just trying to keep Keith from getting bored,” he says.

“They won’t let me leave,” Keith explains, brow furrowing in annoyance. “I’m completely fine but they want me to stay another 24 hours for observation.”

“I think that’s more than reasonable,” Shiro chides him. “They just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m _fine_ , Shiro.”

Hunk quickly abandons his seat at Keith’s bedside and starts to head for the door. “Well, it’s your turn to keep him occupied. Good luck Shiro!”

After Hunk leaves the room, Keith turns his attention back to Shiro. “How’s your arm?”

Shiro shrugs. “Coran said they’re working on it. I’m not too worried. Shouldn’t I be the one asking how you are?”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Like I said, I’m doing fine. As it turns out, quintessence heals me and all my injuries are gone. So turns out the druids did me a favor.”

There’s a brief moment of silence. If Shiro had been waiting for the right time to discuss everything with Keith, this was it. But now that the moment had arrived, he was lost for words. He starts the only way he can think to.

“...I’m sorry, Keith,” he says quietly, unable to meet Keith’s eyes.

“For what?” Keith responds, genuine confusion in his voice. As if he couldn’t think of a single thing that Shiro would need to apologize for.

“For letting this happen to you,” Shiro explains, “I let us walk right into their trap. I let them take you.”

Keith’s hand comes to rest on Shiro’s shoulder, squeezing firmly. “Shiro, there’s no way you could have known what would happen. It’s not your fault.”

Shiro shakes his head. “You’ve saved me more times than I can count and I repay you by letting you get hurt.” He grits his teeth and then sighs. “I owe you so much better than that.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Shiro. I don’t want you feeling like you’re obligated to help me.” Keith says quietly, looking away.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Shiro argues. He couldn’t let Keith think he only helps him out of obligation when it’s the farthest thing from the truth. “What I’m trying to say is… You’ve done so much. For me, for everyone. You deserve the universe and I want to be better for you.”

“You’re already more than good enough,” Keith immediately retorts. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but you saved me.”

“That’s not enough to make up for everything else I’ve put you through. I’ve hurt you too much.” He looks up and lifts his hand to lightly touch the scar that crosses Keith’s cheek.

Keith places his hand over Shiro’s and shakes his head. “I don’t blame you for this, Shiro. It was Haggar and your clone. You had nothing to do with it.”

“I have all the clone’s memories. I remember everything like it was me. You were trying to save me and I still tried to kill you like I didn’t even care.” Shiro pauses. This wasn’t the way he had wanted to bring it up. “I’m so sorry, we should have talked about this a long time ago.”

“It’s fine. You weren’t ready to talk about it,” Keith says simply. “You were still recovering, and then we had a war to fight.”

“But we’ve had time since then.” Shiro sits up straight and looks into Keith’s eyes, determined to say his piece. “There’s so much I have to say to you, but I keep making excuses and putting it off. I wanted there to be a perfect moment for us to be able to talk. And now I realize that if I wait too long I might never get the chance to tell you what I need to.”

“Shiro...” is all Keith can manage to say softly in response. Shiro is about to continue when his vision goes blurry, eyelids closing against his will as exhaustion is finally starting to overcome him. He winces and grabs his head as it starts to throb. Keith immediately has both hands on Shiro’s shoulders, steadying him. “Shiro? Are you alright?”

Shiro shakes his head and blinks a few times, trying to force himself back to wakefulness. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

Keith eyes him suspiciously. “When was the last time you slept, Shiro?”

“I’m fine,” Shiro insists even as he feels his eyes start to close again. “It’s more important that we talk about everything.”

“There’s too much to talk about with you trying not to fall asleep,” Keith points out, frowning. “Go get some sleep and we can talk about everything when you’re fully rested.”

“ _No_.” Shiro says, a little more forcefully than he had intended. “Keith, I need to tell you something. It’s important to me that you hear it now.”

Keith looks conflicted, clearly wanting Shiro to get some rest, but he nods for Shiro to continue

“I remember what you said, when you were trying to snap the clone out of Haggar’s control. You said you loved me.”

“Yeah,” Keith says without hesitation, not embarrassed or ashamed to admit what he had said. Shiro smiles softly at that.

“I love you too, Keith,” he says gently, watching as Keith’s expression softens. He looks stunned, as if he had offered those words to Shiro with no expectations and never could have pictured having them returned. Shiro was more than happy to prove him wrong. “I love you so much. I need you to know that. That’s why I’m going to do my best to make sure nothing like this ever happens to you again.”

If Shiro’s sleep heavy eyes aren’t deceiving him, he’s sure that Keith’s eyes are shining a little brighter than normal. Keith takes a shaky breath before he responds, “I trust you, Shiro.”

Shiro just can’t resist bringing his hand up to stroke back Keith’s hair, then leaning forward to press their lips together. It’s only a brief kiss, but it’s warm and filled with all the affection he’s wanted to give Keith for so long. When he pulls back he wants to say more, to emphasize his feeling for Keith, but he feels another wave of exhaustion pass over him.

“You know, you might be right about needing sleep,” Shiro admits through a yawn. Keith smirks at him.

“I hate to say I told you so but….” He trails off and they both laugh.

Shiro is about to stand up to leave but Keith slides over as far as he can on the small medical bed and pats the empty space, inviting Shiro to lay beside him.

“I really don’t think these beds are made to fit two people,” Shiro says, as much as he wants to submit to the urge to lay down.

“It’ll be fine,” Keith assures him, and then continues more quietly, “Besides, I think we’ll both be able to rest easier together.”

The look in his eyes lets Shiro know that this is just as much for Keith as it is for him. He slowly settles down beside Keith trying to make sure that Keith will have enough space. But as soon as he’s comfortable Keith shifts so that he’s pressed against Shiro’s side, letting one arm lay across his waist and resting his head against Shiro’s shoulder.

“Is this okay?” Keith asks, slightly tense as he’s ready to move away at Shiro’s word. The warmth of Keith against him is soothing, lulling him even quicker to sleep than his exhausted body was already trying.

“...’s perfect,” he mumbles, wrapping his arm around Keith in return. He hasn’t fallen asleep so quickly or slept so calmly in years.

 

* * *

 

The announcement of the ATLAS arriving on Earth startles Shiro awake. He absolutely should not be sleeping while his ship is preparing for landing. He scrambles up, jostling Keith awake as well. He apologizes profusely as he adjusts his uniform, trying to make it look presentable. He moves to leave the room but Keith snags his arm and tugs him down for a quick morning kiss that leaves Shiro stunned.

“Go get ‘em, captain,” Keith says through a smirk. Keith has to gesture towards the door for Shiro to snap out of his daze and head for the bridge.

Landing the ATLAS goes smoothly, but he does have a few words to say to the bridge crew about not waking him when they passed through the wormhole to get there. They go through their normal landing procedures with the Garrison base on Earth and soon enough they’ve safely touched down. While most of the crew of the ship is able to disembark immediately, Shiro stays back for a few hours in his office filling out all the paperwork he needs done to be able to spend the rest of this shore leave free from stress. It takes longer than he’d like given the lack of his Altean arm.

When Shiro finally stretches and leaves his office the sun has started to set outside. As he steps into the main hallway he doesn’t expect to see Keith heading towards him.

“Did they say you could leave, or did you sneak out of the med bay?” Shiro asks, unable to hold back his smile from seeing the other man.

“I finally managed to convince them I’m okay,” Keith says. “I need some fresh air. Want to join me?”

“Absolutely,” Shiro agrees happily. He’s surprised when Keith grabs his hand and starts leading him out of the ATLAS, but he’s not going to complain. He’s waited too long to be able to be affectionate with Keith. Suddenly he remembers something. “Hey, Keith.”

“Hm?”

“I was wondering…,” he hedges, unsure why he’s still so nervous when the hardest part was already out of the way. “You remember that Italian restaurant near the Garrison?”

“The one you always complained was too expensive?” Keith laughs. “Yeah, why?”

“Well it’s still there. And I made a reservation there for a couple days from now,” Shiro says quickly. “Would you like to come with me?”

Keith turns his head to look at Shiro as they walked. “Are you asking me on a date?”

Shiro flounders for a moment at the question, wondering if he somehow misinterpreted Keith’s feelings for him. “Y-yeah. I mean, only if you want it to be. We don’t have to-”

“Shiro,” Keith cuts him off, giving him another one of those smiles that makes Shiro’s heart feel full. “Of course I want to go out with you. I hope that much is obvious.”

Shiro returns his smile with what he knows is an embarrassing, stupid grin. “Yeah?”

“About time!” Lance’s voice suddenly startles them both. When Shiro turns to look, it’s not just Lance but all the other paladins approaching them. “We’ve been waiting for you two to get your act together for way too long!”

“Lance,” Keith says, warning him not to say any more.

“No, he’s right!” Allura says. “We should be celebrating this.”

“We already have something to celebrate Keith being safe, but this is even better!” Hunk says brightly. “I wish I could have had some notice. I would have made a better cake.”

“It’ll be fine, Hunk.” Pidge steps forward and starts pushing Shiro and Keith towards the ATLAS’s exit. “No time to waste guys! We have a party to attend.”

Keith argues back about how they didn’t need a party, but he catches Shiro’s eye over her head and shrugs. They’ll have time to be alone later. For now though, all of them head off together back to the main Garrison building, just happy to be safe and sound together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much to everyone who read this fic and stuck with it to the end. The ending was a bit different than I'd been planning, but I'm still happy with it. And just proud to have finished my first multichapter fic.
> 
> Please don't be shy about leaving a comment with your thoughts, I really want to know what everyone thought about this fic.  
> Hopefully I'll back with another fic soon!
> 
> Come bug me on twitter @EphemeraBlossom!


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